The conversation about artificial intelligence has focused mostly on the product. ChatGPT (OpenAI) or Claude (Anthropic) have become ubiquitous on users' devices; and, with them, in the social conversation. Like all technological disruptions of the scale that is assumed for AI, however, widespread adoption is the key to any significant advance. This adoption is among the fields of study of Marta Serra-Garcia, a Catalan economist and professor of economics and strategy at the Rady School of Management at the University of California - San Diego specialized in behavioral economics, who has studied public trust in AI. Serra-Garcia receives ARA at the Ciutadella campus of the Pompeu Fabra University, where she studied and where she has returned to participate in the European Meeting of the Economic Science Association, organized by the center's department of economics.

The Minister of Business and Labour, Miquel Sàmper, stated in a recent meeting with Catalan representatives of the quantum industry that Catalonia "is arriving in time to lead" what is set to be the next technological revolution. Among the fifty companies that, according to Acció, are dedicated to this technology in the Principality, Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech stands out with its own light: the company, which has developed the three quantum computers for the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, is one of the leaders in European quantum computing, an economic field in surprising growth. Its CEO, Marta P. Estarellas, receives Companies at the company's headquarters to talk about a technology that "is a bit scary" and is "not very intuitive" for the general public, but whose applications will be unique and will stand out in the country's future.

The brain, despite the years and resources dedicated to studying it, still holds many mysteries. And this is due, in large part, to its extreme complexity, with tens of trillions of neurons and synaptic connections that control everything that happens in the human body. Among the scientific voices that have set out to build an easier relationship with the nervous system, that of the Catalan Eduard Masvidal (Tarragona, 1992) stands out. This postdoctoral researcher at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) has focused his research on how new materials and microelectronic technology can help treat neurological disorders as widespread as Parkinson's or epilepsy.

The Catalan technology sector often boasts about the talent pool offered by the country's university ecosystem. Any technology company that remains in Catalonia explains much of its success due to the foundation provided by research and educational centers, which allow access to high-level ideas and professionals without leaving home. Atom H2, one of the rising stars of the country's emerging fabric, is an example: the start-up has developed an alternative to diesel generators that generates and stores energy to support strategic infrastructure. And they did it, as recalled by Anna Martín (Barcelona, 2001), co-founder and CEO of the company, on Fridays after class.

The academic year has begun in Catalonia with a substantial change at the helm of Parlem, one of the key companies of the business independence movement of the last decade. Furthermore, the end of summer marks, for all intents and purposes, the starting point of Marc Armengol's tenure as CEO of Banc Sabadell, with various organizational changes and a focus on digital activity. In the chamber sphere, the Association of Real Estate Agents (COAPI) has chosen its representative to the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce; while the Spanish government has appointed a new Secretary of State for Housing and Urban Agenda.

Artificial intelligence has already slipped into practically every crack of social life. In recent years, since the entry into play of the first versions of ChatGPT, experts and promoters of the technology have asserted that the ceiling for the implementation of AI solutions is exponential; and that the productivity gains they will generate in the short term are incommensurable with other technological disruptions. In a recent speech before Catalan business leaders, the president of Telefónica, Marc Murtra, asserted that "in thirty years in the world of technology, I had never seen such a rapid impact" as that of AI.

The executive chairman of Telefónica, Marc Murtra, has championed the importance of the defense industry before Catalan business leaders. The chief executive of the major Spanish telecommunications company, also former chairman of the industry giant Indra, asserted that "all democratic countries must have a relevant defense industry." At a meeting with Catalan business leaders organized by the employers' association Foment del Treball, which served to inaugurate the economic year in Barcelona, Murtra stated that building defensive capabilities is "especially relevant for democracy," since democratic countries "are recipients of aggression."

Catalonia closes the month of August with the now traditional rise in unemployment that marks the end of the summer season. According to the data published this Wednesday by the Spanish Ministry of Labor and Social Economy, the Principality ended the eighth month of the year with 329,468 job seekers, an increase of about 14,594 people compared to the month of July, 4.63% more. If compared with August 2025, it must be said, the rise is more controlled, with about 2,100 more unemployed people, an increase of 0.64%. In this way, the Catalan labor market moves away from the minimums it reached 12 months ago, when it registered 327,365 unemployed, the lowest figure since 2007.

When going to check your email inbox in Gmail, a multicolored star reminds the user that they have a new companion: "Ask Gemini," suggests Google, in practically every corner of its suite digital. WhatsApp's search engine is no longer a search engine; it's Meta AI, also present on Instagram as an image and text generator. Like X, formerly Twitter, which has placed access to Grok, the chatbot of Elon Musk's. Outside of traditional applications, ChatGPT (OpenAI) and Claude (Anthropic) have become essential on phones and computers worldwide. "The AI era," as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates calls it, has arrived; without permission, but with popular enthusiasm: both ChatGPT and Gemini are said to have surpassed 1 billion monthly users this summer; a usage figure that, as Ariadna Font, co-founder of the emerging Alinia AI and creator of Twitter's algorithmic ethics area, acknowledges, "is dizzying in human terms".

The stock market entries of the two competitors leading the race of commercial artificial intelligence – Anthropic (Claude) and OpenAI (ChatGPT)– are touching. While the market entry of Dario Amodei's leading company is assumed to occur this fall, Sam Altman's tech company "will be a listed company in 2027, or even sooner", according to the company's chief financial officer, Sarah Friar, as reported last Wednesday in a meeting with employees.

"Artificial intelligence could be the greatest equalizer ever invented, or the worst source of inequality." Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates believes the potential impact of AI – benefits and pitfalls, in equal measure – is greatly underestimated. In a long essay published on his website, Gates Notes, the tech mogul and president of his namesake foundation has detailed the promises and dangers of a technology that, in his view, could dismantle the entire contemporary social structure. "The transition to the AI era will be one of the most turbulent periods in human history. And, as of now, we are not adequately prepared to face it," he asserts.

The historic trial against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for the pernicious effects of its social networks on children and adolescents, forces the debate on young people's access to social networks to be reopened. The Spanish state is already studying a regulation to oblige digital platforms to establish effective controls to ban minors under 16 years of age; a proposal that the Minister of Youth and Childhood, Sira Rego, hopes will be approved after the holidays, according to statements made in a recent interview with the Europa Press agency. Spain would join a movement led by Australia, which banned access to networks for minors under 15 years of age in December. France also aspired to join the trend; although its law, which was to come into effect on September 1, was overturned by the Constitutional Council, alleging that the prohibition "did not provide the necessary legal safeguards to guarantee the right to respect for private life." The body also observed a clear conflict with the freedom of expression of the affected users.

The fashion e-commerce portal Shein presented this Monday on the Hong Kong stock exchange the conditions for its initial public offering. The platform expects to raise up to 1.513 billion euros, on a valuation of 23.122 billion, a substantially lower amount than the peaks recorded in 2022. At that time, shortly after a boom in e-commerce driven by the pandemic, the company founded in China, but headquartered in Singapore, was close to 100 billion dollars in value, about 85.6 billion euros.

"The real estate market is a ticking time bomb, and I want to bet against it." American director Adam McKay dramatized in the film The Big Short the bursting of the 2007 housing bubble around a key figure: Michael Burry, the investor who bet everything against the U.S. credit market and escaped the crisis with unprecedented gains. More than two decades after those warnings, Burry has chosen a new target: artificial intelligence.

The consequences of the social media business model may be catching up with Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. The giant led by Mark Zuckerberg faces the first session of a trial this Tuesday that could place limits on what part of the US administration considers digital excesses. 29 US states, led by Colorado, California, New Jersey, and Kentucky, accuse the multinational of having introduced features and dynamics on its main platforms that generate addiction among children and adolescents.

Catalonia imports much more than it exports, and the trend has worsened in recent months. According to foreign trade data published this Tuesday by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, the Principality imported products and services worth 59,501 million euros between January and June, a 2.3% increase year-on-year; and sold outside the State's borders for about 51,795 million euros, a 1.3% increase compared to a year earlier. This differential leaves the country's trade balance at a negative 7,705 million euros, a deterioration of close to 700 million euros compared to the first half of 2025, when the deficit stood at 7,062 million. This represents an increase of 9.1%.

The artificial intelligence has been the engine of stock market success in recent years. The tech companies leading the AI market have reached unimaginable heights, to the point where the club of companies worth more than a trillion dollars is no longer an exclusive affiliation. Nvidia exceeds $5 trillion in market capitalization, while both Alphabet (Google) and Apple are above four trillion.

Grifols' results evolution has served to reduce tension among investors, who have not fully calmed down since the publication of the Gotham City Research report against the Catalan company in January 2024. The share price of the plasma-derived medicines giant remains far from the levels it held before the attack, but the good performance of its accounts has been enough to question some of the most critical theses regarding its value. Among them, those of some of the short-selling investors who had accumulated positions in the company's capital, and who have been reducing or withdrawing them in recent months.

The president of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and the Council of Chambers, Josep Santacreu, celebrates the definitive endorsement of the Council of Statutory Guarantees (CGE) for the chambers law. The Catalan norm, which will foreseeably reach the Parliament's plenary session at the beginning of the term after a gestation that has lasted more than a decade, passed the examination at the CGE that the Comuns and CUP parliamentary groups requested in mid-July. The left-wing formations asked for a pronouncement from the CGE a few hours after the tense vote in the plenary of the Barcelona Chamber that served to increase the voluntary contribution seats, known as "silver chairs", from the current two to 10. Now the council's endorsement confirms "the legal solidity of the law", in the words of the president.

The tension in the fuel market caused by the war in the Middle East continues to put pressure on consumers' pockets. As confirmed this Thursday by the Spanish government, diesel has become expensive enough during the month of July to reinstate the hydrocarbon tax reduction to 20 cents per liter.